1. Winnipeg General Strike 1919

2. Economic Causes Inflation – prices high but wages low Cost of living up 75-80% from 1914-1919 but wages up only 18% Cost for a family of 5 = $136 per month or $1632 per year Building worker earns $915 per year Veterans from the war wanted $2000 benefits Factories changed to peacetime production and so there was unemployment Women lost their jobs due to returning men

3. Union Spread One Big Union Formed in Calgary and spread Wanted all workers together in one union Collective bargaining Wanted improved hours and working conditions Call for a general strike

4. Immediate Causes Machinists in Winnipeg were on strike Wanted collective bargaining under the metal trades council Employers refused to negotiate with a joint union Trades and Labour Council of Winnipeg called a GENERAL STRIKE

5. Events Massive walkout 30,000 off work Paralysis of Winnipeg Anti-strike citizens called strikers communists Special “citizen patrols” Federal gov’t threatened to fire striking officials

6. Violent Response Bloody Saturday Royal North west Mounted Police and army move in Strike leaders arrested Strikers smashed a streetcar run by ‘blackleg’ workers Mounties charged 2 strikers killed, dozens injured

7. Immediate Results Strike collapsed due to resistance from army Leaders jailed for “plotting to overthrow the government” Government created a Royal Commission to investigate

8. Royal Commission Results Causes are: Unemployment Cost of living & wages Long work week Denial of right to form unions Denial of collective bargaining

9. Commission Recommendations Minimum wage for women & unskilled labour Maximum 8 hour work day and weekly rest of not less than 24 hours Right to organize & form unions Payment of a living wage Right to collective bargaining

10. Final Results 20 years before collective bargaining was actually implemented No pay increase Leaders jailed up to 2 years 1920 4 strike leaders won seats in MB provincial elections (William Ivens) 1921 minimum wage for women in MB = $0.25